RIDES TO RICHES : LeMond’s Success Has Made Cycling More Marketable

The world of professional cycling may never be the same after Greg LeMond. Not because of his victory last month in the Tour de France, the closest and perhaps the most dramatic finish in the celebrated race.

No, it seems that LeMond’s legacy to cycling will be made with behind-the-scenes haggling about contracts and salaries. According to many in the sport--gathered here for Sunday’s Grand Prix des Ameriques, the seventh event on cycling’s World Cup series--LeMond’s startling comeback in the Tour de France and the accompanying acclaim has put the 28-year-old American in a position to influence the sport in a unique way. Some would say, in a uniquely American way.

Some observers in the sport say LeMond is gaining a reputation as caring mainly about making money.

“This is a very old and traditional European sport,” said one European journalist who has covered cycling for 16 years. “He has made it very American, and many people do not like it. Yes, the riders are making more money now, because of LeMond. But these matters are very American.”

LeMond’s current bargaining position in the sport is certainly an illustration of supply and demand economics.

The Montreal race had not been on LeMond’s schedule, but he said that because he felt surprisingly fresh after the Tour de France, he decided to race here. Helping LeMond decide may have been the $30,000 race organizers offered as an appearance fee.

The real economic lesson for the sport is still unfolding. LeMond, his father Bob, and their two attorneys have been deep in negotiations here with at least two teams, 7-Eleven and Coors. Nothing has been finalized, but the offer from 7-Eleven, believed to be $1.1 million, has shocked the cycling world. The salary would be the highest ever, by far, in the sport.

Confounding matters is LeMond’s contractual dispute with ADR, the Belgian team that claims LeMond has another year to go on a two-year contract. Since the Tour, LeMond has made it clear he wants to leave ADR and join a U.S. team. LeMond and his representatives met last Monday with Hein Verbruggen, president of the International Professional Cycling Federation, to discuss ways of terminating the contract.

That may happen as soon as tonight.

“We sent a 30-day termination notice,” said Bob LeMond, who handles most of his son’s business affairs. “The notice expires tomorrow night (Monday) at midnight. We feel we are absolutely free of ADR. They are in default of the contract, they have been in default of the contract every step of the way.”

According to insiders, even if LeMond is free of his contractual obligations with ADR, his next team will have to pay the Belgian team a hefty compensation.

Team switching is nothing new in professional cycling. Nor is it rare in sport for an athlete to use one phenomenal performance as leverage for a more favorable contract. But LeMond, starting with his first Tour victory in 1986, has been responsible for systematically raising the standard of living for cyclists.

“Greg has set the pace for cycling,” Bob LeMond said. “He’s raised the value of contracts, salaries and fees.

“He has set the salaries for every rider in the pro ranks. He has taken the guy who in 1980 was making less than $15,000 a year up to now (what is) an actual legitimate salary. The bigger salaries are better for the sport, it creates interest.

“Everybody has benefited from his business sense. In 1980, I bet there wasn’t a guy in America who was making more than $5,000 a year in cycling. . . . Some may resent (the escalating salaries) in some way. They say you are only thinking of money. Come on, everyone is thinking of their own self-interest.”

And why not, in a sport that offers good riders an astonishing earning power? In LeMond’s case, here are some numbers. His contract with ADR is estimated to be $350,000 this year. His attorney, Ron Stanko, said LeMond made about $275,000 in winning the Tour de France. LeMond also has a contract with the Coors Light racing team to ride in six U.S. races for a $200,000 salary.

For a rider of LeMond’s name value, it is conservatively estimated that he can earn at least two times his cycling salary through endorsements. LeMond has about 10 such commercial agreements.

“For the riders, they make money like water,” said Mart Smeets, a Dutch reporter. “LeMond was paid $20,000 to start a race in Amsterdam. To start. He doesn’t bother finishing. LeMond can ride in two races per day in Europe and make $25,000. Same for Laurent Fignon and the rest. They ride every day. Many riders now can make $100,000 in a month. It’s ridiculous.”

LeMond admitted to as much in a news conference Saturday.

“I turned down a lot of money this weekend in Europe,” he said. “I could have made three times as much as I have here. I have to admit I’m getting some money here, but much less than I could have (by) staying in Europe.”

Considering that LeMond competes in 130 races over a 230-day cycling season, his earning potential is tremendous. His decision to race in Montreal may mirror the sport’s own interest in wooing North America.

This race is the first time a World Cup cycling event has been held outside Europe.

“We must have cycling ruling the world, all of it,” Verbruggen of the cycling federation said.

LeMond says mining for undiscovered gold has not been a factor in his desire to ride for a U.S. team. Certainly the United States has no compelling tradition in the sport as it now exists. Only one American team, 7-Eleven, competes on the European tour.

“I’ve raced on European teams long enough,” LeMond said. His previous teams have been Dutch and French.

“I just think that to help cycling in America I should be associated with an American team and an American company.

“Of course, an American team will have European riders on it. I definitely have to have a team with strength on it. . . . Everything worked out in the end at the Tour de France, but I could have lost the race because of not having a good team. To win the Tour de France requires a good team. That’s the reason why I’m leaving, I’m searching for the best team for me.”

Strong teams and teamwork are essential in a stage race. LeMond received little help from ADR, which was only allowed to enter after another team dropped out. Each team’s star rider is helped by his teammates.

Of the 20 teams that the professional cycling federation ranks, ADR is rated 20th. The team entered the Tour de France with nine riders--only four, including LeMond, finished the race. Compare that to second-place finisher Laurent Fignon’s Systeme U team. It is ranked No. 2 in the world and had only one of nine riders drop out.

If ADR is such a weak team, why did LeMond sign a contract? After two years of injuries and mishaps, LeMond was dropped by the Dutch team PDM and found little interest elsewhere. Among the many reported problems with ADR have been late paychecks, or none at all.

“This is not typical,” Bob LeMond said. “All the companies Greg has been involved with have been substantial, reputable companies. This was a real mistake. We were in a real weak position, I admit that.”

He said ADR was a stopgap team until Coors could develop a full team.

“ADR was there and we tried to write a solid, good contract, but we were dealing with a guy who wasn’t dependable,” the senior LeMond said, referring to ADR’s owner Francois Lambert.

Bob LeMond said the decision between 7-Eleven and Coors could come as soon as this week.

In the meantime, the LeMond endorsement sweepstakes continues unabated as potential sponsors line up.

Nathan Jenkins, a Reno attorney and friend of the LeMond family, was called in to help sift through the offers and attend meetings in Montreal.

“We started at 7 o’clock yesterday and we got back to the room at midnight,” Jenkins said. “We still didn’t see everyone who asked.”

Things got so bad Sunday that Bob LeMond even joined a reporter at breakfast at the race headquarters hotel to evade petitioners.

“It would be OK if people would accept the no and go away. But they don’t,” Bob LeMond said. “I tell them, let me think about it a week. We’ve been sleeping four hours a night since the Tour de France. I went to Greg’s house to stay because there were a couple of hundred calls a week, from 6 to midnight. We haven’t had a chance to recover and think.”

It is the senior LeMond, who began to scale back his own real estate business two years ago to deal with his son’s business, who is handling the difficult and often ugly negotiations. Greg is consulted but says he keeps out of it in order to avoid distractions.

“It would change me if I didn’t ride my bike,” LeMond said. “If I spent a month traveling around and doing promotions, that’s where you make the big mistake as a cyclist. You have to stay concentrated and keep your efforts in cycling.

“I’m not searching, I’m not going to go out knocking on doors. Right now there is a lot of money in cycling. Top cyclists are making a lot of money. You don’t have to go to the outside cycling stuff to survive. That’s why I’ve done well this year, I’ve eliminated the outside stuff.”

That may change. Bob LeMond has his eyes on a crossover career. Or at least one with long-term earning potential.

“The kind of crossover that I’d like to see is a company like 7-Eleven or Coors where there could be a future beyond cycling,” he said. “Greg would still represent the company after he retires. After giving five years to a company, as a good representative, why not have Greg work in public relations for that company?”

First, U.S. companies have to be persuaded to budget the $5 million it takes to run a top-level cycling team. They have to have a product they want to sell worldwide. And they have to become interested in cycling’s shifting demographics.

“They haven’t been convinced that a sport like cycling will deliver for the amount they spend,” Bob LeMond said. “They are learning. Greg has to be one of the most well-known athletes in the world. You can be a star with the Broncos and win the Super Bowl and who knows about it in France? But worldwide, people know about cycling, people know about Greg LeMond.

“That company gets a lot for its money. I think cycling is a bargain for companies to be involved in.”

Now that the LeMond revolution is in full swing in cycling, how long will the revolutionary be around to lead it?

“I’ll race another two-three years, for sure,” LeMond said. “Five years, if I’m doing well. That’s not going to be my last Tour de France victory.

Next time, perhaps the sport will be ready.